re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 1:48 am to saintsfan22)

quote:LSU not in ESPN's Very Early Top 25 for next year. Not even in the 15 others to watch either. Poor work by ESPN.

Cant blame them, I dont expect any buzz for us until possibly the season gets pretty close. Plus, all the teams they mentioned I believe were better than us this year, which is obviously what they base this a lot on.

re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 1:51 am to rzd30)

quote:when Malone gets to Baton Rouge what he can really do

I think he'll be pretty shocked when he gets here and starts practicing. He's a few years off being a major contributor IMO. Would be fantastic if he could give us a solid 5-10 minutes a game in tough ones but I really dont know if he'll be able to keep up. If we return everyone we expect to, I think he would hugely benefit from a redshirt. I think his impact as a redshirt freshman would potentially be much greater than as a true freshman.

King JoeyLSU FanJust south of the DC/US borderMember since Mar 200412067 posts

re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 2:43 am to LSU2THEMAX)

quote:We need at least two excellent recruiting years to compete with the Michigan's and Louisville's.

I think you're dreaming. Two years of recruiting that puts us on par with this year's Louisville and Michigan teams would be way better than "excellent". Amazing, phenomenal, unbelievable, nearly unprecedented, etc.

re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 6:32 am to LSU2THEMAX)

quote:We need depth. Did you see how many really good players there were on both teams?

What does everyone think?

I think LSU will have 11 players they feel very comfortable with in the game. Next season's team will have the most talent since 2009. I think we can at least "compete" with Louisville and Michigans next year. I don't think that means we would beat those teams, but we will bring a very interesting team to the table.

Anyone who doesn't throw every pass with intention will have a ton of passes stolen. If they don't work to get back on defense, LSU will beat you down the court. If you bring it in the lane, you better watch out, because we will have 3 guys in the lane that are taller and more athletic than you.

I agree it takes a couple recruiting classes to make a great college basketball season (unless your kentucky) but LSU already has a couple classes. If you keep JOB and Hickey at LSU, that class was solid. Add in Malik Morgan and possibly an upgraded Hammink, and LSU has some really good talent returning, with some spectacular talent joining the squad.

Jones recruiting class filled all positions of need (besides a backup SG, which can easily be covered by our current roster) and did it with talented guys, not just bodies like we have the past 5 years.

I think LSU makes it into the top 25 at some point next season. To me, it depends on how the team gels together. If they buy into what Coach Jones is selling, then this team could make a serious run in SEC play. They will be tested with a much better out of conference slate and will have a shot at making the NCAA tournament.

re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 9:00 am to LSU2THEMAX)

quote:We need at least two excellent recruiting years to compete with the Michigan's and Louisville's.

Whoa there. Let's slow that down a bit. Hopefully LSU fans can temper their expectations. I am certain there will be many bandwagon fans hopping on board next year, many of whom don't know shite about college basketball (or basketball in general) that will think the sky is falling if we lose one game.

Saying things like it will take two seasons to complete with the Louisville's and Michigan's really puts expectations higher than they should be. Did you watch that game last night? Did you see how incredibly good those basketball teams were? To say we are two years away from competing at that level unfortunately epitomizes the sentiment I feel LSU fans will have over the coming season. That's a damn shame too.

re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 9:06 am to LSU2THEMAX)

could be a sweet sixteen team, could miss the postseason all tgoether. a lot of young talent no doubt. i am realy excited. have to see how the schedule shakes down. we could probably drop a couple of mystifying games that leave us confused but that happens with young teams.

got to defend the perimeter better and exploit matchups when JOB and odo are on the court together.

also, jarrell martin...haven't been this excited about a recruit in a while.

re: LSU Basketball Next Year - How good will they be? (Posted on 4/9/13 at 9:20 am to oauron)

quote:This'll be a fun thing to bookmark. You'd these posts wouldn't exist considering how much LSU exceeded expectations last year.

I wouldn't say the past season's team GREATLY exceeded expectations. They still finished .500 in a weak SEC, and in the bottom half of the league. They had a good OOC record, but outside of Marquette and Boise St. (both loses) the schdedule was pretty poor.

All that said, there is certainly reason for optimism in the direction the program is heading. Hopefully it will lead to better crowds and greater interest, but there's probably a middle ground that needs to be reached somewhere between "this teams going to make a deep run in the NCCAT" crowd and the "things are still going to be avg at best under CJJ" crowd.

I think LSU is picked to finish somewhere between 5-8 in the preseason SEC polls. They'll start the season unranked and without much national attention, but I suspect the OOC schedule will be much better than this past year, and they'll have plenty of opportunites to prove what kind of team they are going into SEC play.